This terrorist attack was a cowardly assault on innocent civilians, targeting our free society, our principles and our way of life. These threats manifested themselves in the form of Daesh yesterday, but the source of the problem is the Islamic fundamentalism that has held millions of people hostage in the Middle East for decades and now threatens our free and open societies.

This threat will grow if the Assad regime and its principal backers, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, are allowed to continue the indiscriminate killings in Syria that have made the country a hotbed for the emergence of extremist groups such as Daesh.

In the aftermath of this horrific tragedy, Europe and the West must stand united in their efforts to confront the threat of religious fundamentalism. Ultimately, the solution cannot be found only in a military response; instead, the West should support and engage those modern and democratic voices in and from the region, who strive for a more tolerant and democratic Middle East that renounces and rejects the notion of religious dictatorship sustained by the export of terrorism and the imposition of domestic repression.